Dollar Bay To-Do List

We are hoping to have the Dollar Bay Retailing Game ready for students to use during the Summer, 1999 Governors School at NDSU.

Major Questions

How to turn the "debug" window on and off?
What is the timetable?
What are the Governor's School's expectations of the game?
- Who will interface between the game and the students?

Simulation Management

Decide on the product mix.

Server Side Game Play

Add back room to each store
- change leasing and new_store to create another room and set of exits
- position the backroom exit to the left of the viewport
- figure out how to move stock back and forth between storefront and backroom
change the ordering protocol so that players can order shipments 1, 4, 8, or 12 weeks in advance, but cannot automatically order the same things every week (no more auto-pilot mode).
Warehouse positioning should be changed so players appear in the viewport standing next to the agent
fix the errors in the traceback file
check why Cassalene(#183647) S_HF_MC(#181921) Employee Agent(#314) Employee(#398) never reports on the weeks transactions.

Client (Java) Programming

Change the ordering interface to reflect the changes to the ordering protocol described above
Add an item to the menubar so that the Debug Window and the Java Console can be turned on and off (and make the default be off).
Make sure there is an item in the menubar so that sounds can be turned OFF
Put an item in the menubar to hide/display the debug window
Fix the speech balloons so they don't cover faces
Fix the number entry problem in the stock interface

Interface Graphics

Metallic interface, with buttons
- Buttons
  Note: buttons in the same category should be grouped together on the interface in some obvious way, and they should all look alike.
  Also note: buttons in different categories DO NOT NEED to look alike, although they can
  There are a total of 15 buttons needed.
  - Need: (Navigation (3): Home, Map, Quit buttons)
  - Need: (Status (5): Scoreboard, Ledger, News, Help, Tutor (was Mail) buttons)
  - Need: (Management (4): Hiring, Stock, Advertising, Ordering buttons)
  - Need: (Research (2): Market Research, Forecasting buttons)
  - Need: (Customizing (1): Appearance button)
  - Not Need: Checklist
- Status Regions
  - Labeled regions to display: Cash, Net Worth, Debt, and Profit values
  - Labeled region to display mouse-over values (i.e. when the cursor is over a player, we see the player's name)
  - Labeled region for the "time of week" clock
- Labeled typing box (approx 2/3rds present width)

ViewPort Graphics

Note: the Viewport is exactly 600 pixels wide, by 250 pixels tall. Players and agents are sized at 180 pixels tall. Storefronts should be exactly 200 pixels wide by 250 pixels tall so they fit exactly 3 across.

Make a list of products/rooms/agents for Jill
Jill take a Photoshop class
Decide on a consistent "look"
- Rooms:
  - store interiors: could stay the same or look more "interesting"
    Note: the doors are actually separate graphics that sit exactly over the background image
  - back rooms: could look like current store interiors
    Note: we will need two "door" graphics to get back and forth between front and back rooms
  - streets: at present there is no street graphic, so if there are less than 3 stores on a street, the viewport shows inky blackness. It would be nice if there were some kind of graphic out there, perhaps pale and grey, that store fronts could fit over.
  - store fronts: it would be nice if store fronts looked as though there were space between each store.
  - other locations: the warehouse interior, and all the casino graphics should be at the lowest priority to replace;
    Need a Warehouse exterior
    Need a Bank interior and exterior
    Need a Chamber of Commerce interior and exterior
- Products:
- Agents: